Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was a British-Canadian mercantile business that was founded on 2 May 1670. The company engaged in fur trading around Hudson's Bay in northern Canada, and it once owned 15% of North American acreage when it was in possession of Rupert's Land. For several centuries, the HBC controlled the North American fur trade, and it undertook early exploration and forged relationships with many of the Native Americans in Canada. In 1869, the Canadian government purchased Rupert's Land from the HBC, leading to the formation of the province of Manitoba. By the mid-19th century, the company was selling everything from furs to fine homeware, and it began to evolve into a multipurpose company. The company would come to own retail stores in Canada, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States, with Lord & Taylor being a subsidiary of the HBC.